December 15, 2023
A new $50m facility capable of recycling the equivalent of up to one billion 600ml PET plastic drink bottles each year has been opened by the Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and Victorian Minister for the Environment Steve Dimopoulos. The facility has commenced operations in Melbourne, just in time to take advantage of the state’s Container Deposit Scheme. The Circular Plastics Australia (PET) plant will convert used drink bottles into high-quality food-grade resin which will then be used to manufacture new recycled PET bottles and food packaging. The plant will be fully operational and recycling PET bottles collected through the Container Deposit Scheme, and additionally, some refuse from the household and office recycling bins in the system. This is the biggest facility in Victoria and the state-of-the-art equipment is capable of producing 2.5 tonnes of recycled PET resin per hour. Multiple infrared and optical sorters first separate any non-PET material like bottle lids, labels, and metals. The PET bottles are then shredded, ground, and washed before the flaked material is then pushed through a two-stage heating and drying…